COTW - What's Really Important - Become an Interested Individual

Part of the purpose of a good education is to broaden your awareness of what is going on in the world and to improve your ability to think about things in a rational manner. Upon the completion of your formal education, you need to continue to nourish your mind with activities unrelated to work or your profession. Failure to do so means you will commit the double sin of boring both yourself and those around you. It is a great asset in life to be regarded as an interesting individual, which can only be attained by someone who is truly “interested”.

The first step is to determine the best way for you to keep yourself informed about what is currently happening of any consequence in your community, country and the world. Recognizing the competing demands on your time, you need to access different sources of news on a regular basis to gain a basic understanding of some of the most important issues likely to affect your life. More important than the news itself is exposing yourself to informed analysis and commentary on the major news stories, events and trends occurring.

Consequently, I recommend you get into the habit of reading one or two of the best daily newspapers available in print or through the Internet. This does not mean you should attempt to read most of the articles or even every section in the newspaper. But at least scan through the newspaper, looking at the headlines and reading some part or all of those articles that are of interest to you.

With Internet news sources, it is mandatory to be skeptical of everything you read. Distinguish between articles that are advertising, news or opinion pieces. Ask yourself, does the author of a news story have an agenda that would be a motivation for twisting the truthfulness of what is being written. Similarly, ask, is the news story being sponsored by a group, organization or company with something to gain.

From its start, the Internet has facilitated the spread of made-up and unsubstantiated news stories. This has given rise to the term "fake news", defined as "deliberate misinformation created for political purposes or financial gain". The proliferation of such "fake news" is now occurring through the use of bots and specialized websites that magnify its dissemination. Of course, this makes it possible for anyone who dislikes a particular news story to label it as "fake news" as a tactic for discrediting it.

In my case, I favor the print media for my primary source of news commentary and information. From Monday through Saturday, I usually scan through a national newspaper, a local newspaper and sometimes the Wall Street Journal. On the weekend, I also read the Sunday edition of the New York Times, including its separate Book Review section. When traveling outside of Canada and the U.S., I read the daily edition of the International New York Times. On most days, I typically only read about three or four newspaper articles of any serious length from start to finish and partially read another six to ten articles.

In addition, take an active interest in cultural activities that give you pleasure. This ideally should go beyond listening to your favorite music or going to movies. Take advantage of opportunities to attend live performances of the theatre, musical groups and the ballet, depending on what appeals to you. Go to art galleries and museum shows. Learn to play a musical instrument if you have any aptitude for doing so.

I also strongly recommend that you make the time to enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction books. The Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte wrote in one of his novels: “Books are doors that lead out into the street. You learn from them, educate yourself, travel, dream, imagine, live other lives, multiply your own life a thousand times … Sometimes I wonder how you people that don’t read figure out how to live your lives.” How very true.

In an article in the International Herald Tribune, Andrew Solomon wrote: “You are what you read. If you read nothing, then your mind withers, and your ideals lose their vitality and sway … The role of literature is to illuminate, to strengthen, to explain why some aspect of life is beautiful or terrible or sad or important or insignificant for people who might otherwise not understand so much or so well. Reading is experience, but it also enriches other experience.” This is particularly the case in reading fiction and literature, including poetry.

Another great way to stimulate your personal development is to take advantage of any opportunities you have to travel to other parts of both your country and the world for both business and pleasure. Travel broadens your mind and awareness about other people, cultures and ways of life. To become a Citizen of the World, you have to see and experience other parts of the world for yourself.

Yes, I recognize that many of you may not watch TV news programs nor read newspapers or news magazines. You probably are getting most of your news through various sources on the Internet, such as the blogs of friends, chatrooms, sites that aggregate the news (e.g., www.news.google.com, www.huffingtonpost.com), feeds on Social Media Sites (e.g., www.FaceBook.com, www.YouTube.com, www.Twitter.com), collaborative news sites (e.g., www.Digg.com) and applications on your mobile phone. This qualifies you as a member of the "post-media generation". By now, some of you may have even been able to set up your own programmed individual news page on the Internet with stories being posted on a 24-hour basis from around the globe covering those topics you are most interested in. Go for it.

Regardless of how you get your news, stay plugged in to what is going on in your community, city, region, country and the world. Keep your antenna up and revolving. Pay attention to what is happening in politics, government, the environment and human rights. Make the extra effort required to obtain different perspectives and informed commentary on the most important current issues to help you put things in their proper context. Do not get lazy and let your thinking become polarized and rigid. In short, be an interested individual for the rest of your life.

Education Smarts

To get the most from any post-secondary educational experience, here are five basic principles to follow:

Keep in mind that what you get out of any educational experience in terms of benefit is 100% directly related to what you put into it effort-wise.
Select your classes, courses and seminars based more on who is the most highly regarded teacher, professor or speaker than on the subject being covered.
Sit as close to the front of the auditorium or classroom as possible. This always greatly improves your ability to pay attention and absorb what is being said by the speaker.
Help those who are struggling. You never know when you may need help also.
Make an effort to become friends with the brightest people in your class or program. You will learn more by doing so as some of their “smarts” will likely rub off on you.

There is growing evidence that students who use a pen and paper to take notes in classrooms, lectures and seminars learn more and get significantly higher grades than those who use laptops or tablets for note-taking. This is especially the case with those students who afterwards review their own handwritten notes and type them up.

In university, there are a number of major benefits to majoring in “the humanities” even though they may not lead directly to a job. As the New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out, studying the humanities greatly strengthens your ability to think, read and write clearly, to gain a familiarity with the language of emotion, and to have a better understanding of human behavior. It also enables you to have a more comprehensive perspective of what is going on in the world and in different cultures, religions and the arts. All of these things will give you a significant advantage in the workplace over those who never took any liberal arts courses. In my undergraduate studies at Stanford University, I majored in history.


Meet Steele Curry - the author of these Guides Other stuff to know FAQ’s Contact Steele Thanks for your help Download PDF Guides	WHAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT chapter 14 Become an Interested Individual << PREVIOUS CHAPTER < BACK PAGE FORWARD > NEXT CHAPTER >> Part of the purpose of a good education is to broaden your awareness of what is going on in the world and to improve your ability to think about things in a rational manner. Upon the completion of your formal education, you need to continue to nourish your mind with activities unrelated to work or your profession. Failure to do so means you will commit the double sin of boring both yourself and those around you. It is a great asset in life to be regarded as an interesting individual, which can only be attained by someone who is truly “interested”. The first step is to determine the best way for you to keep yourself informed about what is currently happening of any consequence in your community, country and the world. Recognizing the competing demands on your time, you need to access different sources of news on a regular basis to gain a basic understanding of some of the most important issues likely to affect your life. More important than the news itself is exposing yourself to informed analysis and commentary on the major news stories, events and trends occurring. Consequently, I recommend you get into the habit of reading one or two of the best daily newspapers available in print or through the Internet. This does not mean you should attempt to read most of the articles or even every section in the newspaper. But at least scan through the newspaper, looking at the headlines and reading some part or all of those articles that are of interest to you. If this is not possible, regularly watch television news programs. The information you receive from these sources, however, will likely be more compressed and limited, compared with what you will receive from reading most newspapers. Some weekly magazines, such as the Economist, also provide an excellent source of news analysis and commentary. Internet News Over the past decade, Internet blogs have mushroomed in number to become a serious alternative source of news information, especially about certain specialized subjects. While many blogs are operated by so-called “amateurs”, they do provide a fast-responding, unfiltered source of news and information that is quickly growing in popularity. With Internet news sources, it is mandatory to be skeptical of everything you read. Distinguish between articles that are advertising, news or opinion pieces. Ask yourself, does the author of a news story have an agenda that would be a motivation for twisting the truthfulness of what is being written. Similarly, ask, is the news story being sponsored by a group, organization or company with something to gain. From its start, the Internet has facilitated the spread of made-up and unsubstantiated news stories. This has given rise to the term "fake news", defined as "deliberate misinformation created for political purposes or financial gain". The proliferation of such "fake news" is now occurring through the use of bots and specialized websites that magnify its dissemination. Of course, this makes it possible for anyone who dislikes a particular news story to label it as "fake news" as a tactic for discrediting it. The brilliant Swedish mystery author Henning Mankell was absolutely correct when he stated: Many people make the mistake of confusing information with knowledge. They are not the same thing. Knowledge involves the interpretation of information. Knowledge involves listening. In my case, I favor the print media for my primary source of news commentary and information. From Monday through Saturday, I usually scan through a national newspaper, a local newspaper and sometimes the Wall Street Journal. On the weekend, I also read the Sunday edition of the New York Times, including its separate Book Review section. When traveling outside of Canada and the U.S., I read the daily edition of the International New York Times. On most days, I typically only read about three or four newspaper articles of any serious length from start to finish and partially read another six to ten articles. In addition, take an active interest in cultural activities that give you pleasure. This ideally should go beyond listening to your favorite music or going to movies. Take advantage of opportunities to attend live performances of the theatre, musical groups and the ballet, depending on what appeals to you. Go to art galleries and museum shows. Learn to play a musical instrument if you have any aptitude for doing so. Read Books I also strongly recommend that you make the time to enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction books. The Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte wrote in one of his novels: “Books are doors that lead out into the street. You learn from them, educate yourself, travel, dream, imagine, live other lives, multiply your own life a thousand times … Sometimes I wonder how you people that don’t read figure out how to live your lives.” How very true. Reading books can become a great source of lifelong pleasure for virtually anyone. There are books for every interest and taste. Become a regular visitor to bookstores and libraries. Discover new favorite authors. Enjoy reading biographies about the fascinating lives of notable individuals. Learn more about history or current events. In an article in the International Herald Tribune, Andrew Solomon wrote: “You are what you read. If you read nothing, then your mind withers, and your ideals lose their vitality and sway … The role of literature is to illuminate, to strengthen, to explain why some aspect of life is beautiful or terrible or sad or important or insignificant for people who might otherwise not understand so much or so well. Reading is experience, but it also enriches other experience.” This is particularly the case in reading fiction and literature, including poetry. The author Barbara Kingsolver said, “Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life. Literature sucks you into another psyche. So the creation of empathy necessarily influences how you’ll behave to other people.” Another great way to stimulate your personal development is to take advantage of any opportunities you have to travel to other parts of both your country and the world for both business and pleasure. Travel broadens your mind and awareness about other people, cultures and ways of life. To become a Citizen of the World, you have to see and experience other parts of the world for yourself. When people ask you, “What do you do for pleasure, for fun?”, have a good answer to give. If someone says to you, “What do you think of that shocking event that happened yesterday in New York?”, have a response that indicates you are aware of what is going on in the world. Yes, I recognize that many of you may not watch TV news programs nor read newspapers or news magazines. You probably are getting most of your news through various sources on the Internet, such as the blogs of friends, chatrooms, sites that aggregate the news (e.g., www.news.google.com, www.huffingtonpost.com), feeds on Social Media Sites (e.g., www.FaceBook.com, www.YouTube.com, www.Twitter.com), collaborative news sites (e.g., www.Digg.com) and applications on your mobile phone. This qualifies you as a member of the "post-media generation". By now, some of you may have even been able to set up your own programmed individual news page on the Internet with stories being posted on a 24-hour basis from around the globe covering those topics you are most interested in. Go for it. Regardless of how you get your news, stay plugged in to what is going on in your community, city, region, country and the world. Keep your antenna up and revolving. Pay attention to what is happening in politics, government, the environment and human rights. Make the extra effort required to obtain different perspectives and informed commentary on the most important current issues to help you put things in their proper context. Do not get lazy and let your thinking become polarized and rigid. In short, be an interested individual for the rest of your life. Education Smarts To get the most from any post-secondary educational experience, here are five basic principles to follow: Keep in mind that what you get out of any educational experience in terms of benefit is 100% directly related to what you put into it effort-wise. Select your classes, courses and seminars based more on who is the most highly regarded teacher, professor or speaker than on the subject being covered. Sit as close to the front of the auditorium or classroom as possible. This always greatly improves your ability to pay attention and absorb what is being said by the speaker. Help those who are struggling. You never know when you may need help also. Make an effort to become friends with the brightest people in your class or program. You will learn more by doing so as some of their “smarts” will likely rub off on you. There is growing evidence that students who use a pen and paper to take notes in classrooms, lectures and seminars learn more and get significantly higher grades than those who use laptops or tablets for note-taking. This is especially the case with those students who afterwards review their own handwritten notes and type them up. In university, there are a number of major benefits to majoring in “the humanities” even though they may not lead directly to a job. As the New York Times columnist David Brooks pointed out, studying the humanities greatly strengthens your ability to think, read and write clearly, to gain a familiarity with the language of emotion, and to have a better understanding of human behavior. It also enables you to have a more comprehensive perspective of what is going on in the world and in different cultures, religions and the arts. All of these things will give you a significant advantage in the workplace over those who never took any liberal arts courses. In my undergraduate studies at Stanford University, I majored in history. << PREVIOUS CHAPTER < BACK PAGE FORWARD > NEXT CHAPTER >>	CONTENTS Introduction The Right Mind-Set Follow Your Passion Healthy Relationships Relationship Boosters Relationship Blockers Personal Communications Friends Lasting Friendships Couples Wanting to be a Couple Dating Online Dating Dead-End Relationships Marriage Achieving Happy Marriages Weddings Family Children Teenagers Ethics “Success” Your Mental and Physical Wellness Nutrition Overweight Sleep Doctor Recommendations Medical and Health Info Reading and Texting While Walking Keep Financially Fit Faith Dare to Be an Independent Thinker Become an Interested Individual Internet News Read Books Education Smarts Holidays Giving Back Conclusion Acknowledgments About the Author TOP OF PAGE
	TOP OF PAGE

Privacy	© Copyright 2023 Steele Curry. All rights reserved.	Contact us